A history center in McKinney that absorbed a private museum in Denton last year has hit a financial snag that threatens its operation.

For The Dallas Morning News/Stewart F. House

The North Texas History Center, housed in the 1911 McKinney Post Office, is experiencing funding problems.

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Denton County Historical Museum Inc. had operated privately in the Stonehill Center at Interstate 35 and North Loop 288 until last year, when the North Texas History Center absorbed it.

A recent $100,000 budget cut from the Collin County Commissioners Court has North Texas History Center officials scrambling to find donors and grants to help keep its doors open.

“At this point in time, we’re not looking at this as an optional program; we’re looking at staying open and getting our funding replaced,” said Vicki Day, executive director of the history center. “We’re really not even considering anything other than that.”

Collin County commissioners had increased funding for the museum from $50,000 in 2004 to $134,000 in 2009. This year, the museum is receiving $32,000.

Day, who has been with the museum since September 2008, said that at that time, the county had requested the history center ask for less funding in the future.

“We fully understood we would go back to them for a lesser ask; what we didn’t realize is they were wanting to make the break before we were ready,” she said.

Day said history center officials had a business plan to become independent by a certain year with a 25 percent cut each year to reach independent status.

“Obviously, it didn’t work out like that,” she said.

Collin County Judge Keith Self disputed the history center’s business plan and said the court told museum officials in 2009 that it was going to be the last year for county funding.

Commissioners developed a bridge funding plan to help the history center through the first quarter of fiscal year 2010.

“Every year was supposed to move them toward self-sufficiency — well, they didn’t move,” Self said.

The history center is just one of 13 private history centers in the county, he said.

“We love them. We just wish they could make money,” Self said.

The Denton museum’s move to McKinney stirred a lot of controversy last year because some local historians didn’t like Denton County artifacts leaving the county.

That controversy revived a decade-old disagreement. In the late 1990s, a dispute among local historians led to a lawsuit and a settlement that divided the county’s historic artifacts between two groups.

One group formed the Denton County Historical Museum, which received some artifacts. The Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square Museum received the other artifacts.

Georgia Caraway is the executive director of the Denton County Museums, which includes the Courthouse-on-the-Square Museum and the Denton County Historical Park.

She said the history center’s troubles were sad.

“Denton County material is there. My heart was broken then when it [the move] happened, and now it’s even worse,” Caraway said. “We don’t know what is going to happen with the materials. I’ve had grave concerns ever since they took the material. Our worst nightmare is coming to life. I hope they can do something to keep those artifacts safe.”

Caraway wondered if there was any way Denton County could get the artifacts back, but said she was not sure of the agreement between the historical museum and the history center.

Ray Roberts, who sat on the board of the former Denton County Historical Museum and now for the history center, said all the Denton County artifacts were signed over to Collin County last year.

“They could have had it [museum artifacts] if they helped, and they wouldn’t,” Roberts said of Denton County. “We pleaded with them to help us, and they laughed at us and gave everything to the courthouse, so we unloaded it.”

Roberts said he knew the history center was struggling but felt it wouldn’t close.

“They have had some pretty good demonstrations in the town over there,” he said. “I don’t see them breaking up their operation over there; they have too many people supporting them.”

Day said she and several people were working to get donors, grants and fundraising programs in action.

This past weekend, several Civil War re-enactment groups conducted a “Save Our Museum” rally, she said.

“We’re doing our best to get these troubled cash flows times behind us and get moving forward with our historical message,” Day said. “I truly do not see us closing our doors.”

BJ LEWIS can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is blewis@dentonrc.com .